Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on Televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. www.storageguardian.com.
If you have a lot of important information on your computer, whether you run a business from it or not, it is vital to keep that information safe. After all, think about all of the important files you have on your computer at this very moment. Perhaps you have sensitive personal information, photos, cherished music, saved e-mails and other important documents that you would never want to lose.
However, the truth is that computers crash all the time, and hard drives fail. And the last thing that you want to do is to be scrambling to have your hard drive recovered and paying a lot of money in the process just for the professionals to even attempt to do this for you. So instead of ever letting it come to this point, what you should consider is getting a backup data solution for your personal information or small business data. Not only will this give you the added peace of mind in knowing your data is safe, but it can also save you a lot of money down the road.
However, when it comes to being able to afford these backup storage solutions, many people feel as though they simply are unable to do this. Luckily, though, there are several great and affordable backup data storage solutions out there that you should look into and consider getting for yourself or your business. For more information on storage solutions, click here.
6 Key Storage Solution Ideas
If you are looking for a direct backup solution, then you are going to want to consider direct attached storage. This is essentially a small device that you can hook up to your computer. From there, you can set it so that everything you save to your computer also automatically saves a backup on the external device. These are ideal for personal computers to use as storage solutions because, even in the event that a hard drive failed, everything would easily be stored on the backup and could be hooked up to another computer to access and transfer. Dell offers some great direct attached storage options to consider, so try looking into the popular and affordable Powervault MD100 model.
If you run a business where you have several different computers and users who all need secure access to files, then you might want to consider the option of getting networked storage. This is essentially a cloud network, where everything is saved onto a secure server and not directly onto any kind of portable device. This is a secure option because users must have a username and password in order to access the files in any way. In addition, storage limits in networked storage solutions tend to have more space, which is needed for companies that deal with a lot of files on a regular basis. Redhat.com is one website that offers affordable network storage for businesses.
There are plenty of online websites that offer this network storage service, however, so it is best to shop around according to yours or your business’ unique needs in order to find one that best meets your needs. For example, rackspace.com also offers online storage solutions in a cloud like setting and is rated among the best services out there for these purposes.
Another common storage solution for those who prefer to have a hard, physical device with their data on it is disk backup. This is similar to the direct attached storage in the sense that it is also removable. However, unlike direct attached storage, this does not have the capability to attach to other servers. Essentially, this would be a good solution for someone with a personal computer who is simply looking for a backup to keep their files safe. It is not ideal for those who need to accomplish file sharing or work from various computers. Still, disk backup is one of the most affordable options out there, and you can buy a quality disk backup from Exagrid.
For large businesses that deal with immense amounts of data, a tape backup device may be the best choice. These are larger server spaces that are meant to handle hundreds of gigabytes of information on a regular basis. And while they tend to be one of the more expensive storage options out there, that is because of their high level of security and the massive size of the equipment that is necessary to hold all of the information. Still, for a company that deals with a lot of sensitive data of information, there is simply no better way to go than with a tape backup device. Dell also offers these for fair prices, such as the reliable PowerVault Tape Backup.
Overall, finding the best storage options to secure your important files and information takes some consideration of your specific needs, but spending the time to figure this out now can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
Storage Guardian has an amazing backup data option you can also check out for small businesses. It is $50/month and gives you 1TB of data. It’s safe and secure, and it has shown to be a great option for small business owners. If you’re looking for a great service, this is definitely a great place to start.
It’s every IT administrator’s worst nightmare: a critical server goes down on a Sunday morning. Thanasi Ziros at Beyond Medical USA, a provider of medical devices and supplies, noticed an abnormal console warning on one of the company’s five servers, and restarted it to clear the problem. That made matters worse: when he couldn’t even log in after the restart he checked the server and found two hard drives were not responding.
Since the server hosts several virtual servers, this meant that more than 20 users would now be locked out. If this has happened one month earlier, Thanasi would have been forced to restore from backup tapes, a process that would likely have been fraught with hassle and frustration. He would have had to fetch the tapes from an offsite location, and then spend the better part of two days diligently restoring the server from tape archives.
But, luckily, he had recently switched his backup plans to Storage Guardian’s cloud backup service, coupled with a local disk for fast restoration of crucial server and user files.
“Once I had pulled a drive from another machine to get the server operational, I called Storage Guardian. The tech stepped me through the process of restoring local data from an always-available local disk,” says Thanasi. “Then, Storage Guardian expressed me a drive with 20GB of data and 25 user profiles. Once that had been loaded, I was up and running with zero data loss.”
In addition to ensuring business continuity for Beyond Medical, Storage Guardian helps the company conform to HIPAA regulations by maintaining accurate data records — offsite and encrypted — 24×7x365.
Thanasi adds that the Storage Guardian service is not just dependable, it’s a big time-saver. He adds: “One thing we’re not missing these days: the daily ritual of creating backup tapes and then taking them home every night.”
We’ve been growing fast, and this has required us to upgrade our infrastructure to support this growth. We’re happy to announce that we’ve standardized on NEC D-Series SAN Storage, which offers us enterprise-class technology, strong encryption, full redundancy, and the ability to scale with our growth.
Here’s the low-down…
Challenges
Unprecedented data growth
Various complex storage systems
Rising operational costs
Solution
NEC D-Series SAN Storage (D4) with both Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity
Linux® 64-bit OS
Results
Streamlined data growth
Standardized on NEC D-Series SAN Storage
Increased capacity & reliability
Improved scalability
Reduced complexity & costs
Positive ROI
Storage Guardian specializes in data storage and online data backup solutions that ensure business continuity and reliable information-lifecycle management. Their innovative and cost-effective remote data backup and storage solution represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. Used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments, Storage Guardian safeguards clients’ critical business data in a secure location, and offers a remote backup service on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.
Challenges
Small, medium and large enterprises’ ever-growing data volumes and increasing need for foolproof business continuity has stimulated interest in outsourcing backup operations. While industries like financial services and healthcare may institute updates to their data backup solutions for regulatory compliance reasons, other businesses are motivated by the potential risk and impact of data loss. A single failure can be catastrophic for many organizations. Service-hosting companies are facing greater business risk from any failure, so it is imperative that they provide much stronger data protection for their clients.
In response to this growing demand, Storage Guardian developed an online and cloud backup service, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company caters specifically to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with an affordable, feature-rich online data backup and fast data recovery service that is distinguished by its easy-to-install, administer and use features.
“Without IT resources onsite, many SMBs don’t know what to do, or where to turn for answers and data protection,” said Omry Farajun, president and founder of Storage Guardian. “Many of our customers didn’t have any type of data backup previously—they rely on Storage Guardian to protect their data and ensure it’s available whenever they need it.”
Storage Guardian has experienced tremendous growth, with over 2,000 customers now using their storage service. “It is apparent that businesses are taking data backup seriously,” adds Farajun. “The surge in demand has also triggered unprecedented growth in the volume of data for Storage Guardian. The company scaled up to 100 TB of data storage in the last year alone.”
“Each client engagement is fully customized and scalable,” said Farajun. “In an effort to keep up with surging demand, Storage Guardian’s infrastructure became a complicated jumble of storage pieces and parts; they needed professional services to help get control of the data beast. We needed a way to streamline the growth of data, reduce complexity, and control operational costs.”
Solution - Scalable Performance
Storage Guardian chose NEC’s D-Series SAN storage solution to support the company’s extraordinary data growth. The D-Series SAN Storage solution provides high availability, scalability, as well as the 100 TB – and growing – capacity that Storage Guardian required. The solution’s advanced features and enterprise-class software – including snapshots, replication, performance management, multi-pathing, failover, energy conservation, and virtual storage partitioning for Quality of Service – deliver the performance and flexibility the company needs to grow on-demand.
“Storage Guardian chose NEC’s D-Series storage because of the superior quality of its components and migration methodology,” said Farajun. D-series has a proprietary algorithm that allows the solution to perform better as it scales. “The more NEC storage we use, the faster Storage Guardian has gotten. Not every storage vendor can deliver on that promise.”
The NEC D4 modular storage array provides both Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity. A single D4 array can scale from just 300 GB to 288 TB of capacity by adding up to eleven 2U 12-drive expansion enclosures. Aggregate throughput of over 1,200 MB/s to hosts is provided through up to eight 8 Gbps Fibre Channel ports or up to four 10 Gbps iSCSI ports. These can be connected into a SAN or direct-connected as a simple and low-cost DAS configuration. The disk enclosures are connected to the controller via SAS wide-link connection for 48 Gbps bandwidth to each disk enclosure.
The system is fully redundant to protect against a single point of failure, with a battery backup unit for protecting the cache. Failed components are reported via alerts by either email or SNMP traps and in the management software.
Results - Growth & Positive ROI
Storage Guardian was completely satisfied with the deployment process. “NEC assessed our needs for adding capacity very quickly. You could measure it in hours, not days,” commented Farajun. “It was very quick. We can procure, ship, and install within a week and a half.”
NEC channel partner, West Coast Technology (WCT), was able to harness the Fibre Channel and deploy NEC’s D-Series storage very quickly. Storage Guardian now uses Linux® 64-bit OS, can scale reliably to more than 100 TB of storage, and grow even faster with NEC storage.
“As a business, being able to buy storage in smaller increments allows us to invest only as needed,” said Farajun This helps us improve our cash flow, and remain competitive and agile. We’ve been able to realize a positive ROI [return on investment] in a short period of time.”
Storage Guardian’s multi-tenant virtual, peer-to-peer, NAS environment has the ability to manage multiple network policies. The high-security environment ensures the highest levels of encryption. Standardizing on NEC’s D-Series storage has reduced the complexity of Storage Guardian’s operations, and enabled the company to streamline the growth of data. Cooling the subsystem has also helped to lower operational costs in the data center.
Farajun concluded, “It’s amazing to see how we can scale with NEC in less than a year. To watch the infrastructure scale and grow so simply is remarkable.”
You’ve probably seen a few of the numerous online backup services aimed at consumers and casual users. They’re fine for people who want a quick and easy way to ensure that their important files are backed-up offsite.
But what most people don’t realize is that, in many cases, if you delete a file from your computer, after 30 days that file will also be deleted from the online backup. That’s not so great for businesses that need a permanent backup solution. So Storage Guardian has just launched a new service that’s designed for home-business/small-business users that want a set-it-and-forget-it online backup service, priced accordingly.
The new service, Storage Guardian Mobile Client, is aimed at smaller companies and SOHO users, which often have several desktop computers, numerous laptops, and some network-attached storage units. It’s still based on the Asigra platform, so it provides an all-inclusive backup and recovery service that ensures all crucial data is safely backup-up to a secure, offsite datacenter.
Long-term data protection of up to 1TB of data is provided for as little as $50/month, with additional storage costing 4.9 cents per gigabyte.
Storage Guardian Launches Unlimited Online Backup for Mobile, Small Business and Home Office
Aimed at businesses that need worry-free backup of all laptops and network-attached storage devices, new Storage Guardian Mobile Client service ensures remote workers are continually backed-up and protected. Long-term data protection of 1TB of data is as little as $50/month.
TORONTO, CANADA:Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has launched Storage Guardian Mobile Client, an enterprise-grade service for Windows environments that need more than typical mass-market backup products can offer at affordable rate and with maximum flexibility. For these businesses, which often have several desktop computers, and numerous laptops and some network-attached storage units, Storage Guardian Mobile Client provides an all-inclusive backup and recovery service that ensures all crucial data is safely backup-up to a secure, offsite datacenter.
Storage Guardian’s new Mobile Client service lets users add an unlimited number of laptops and storage devices and then pay as they go, with no upfront payment and no per-seat charge. It offers all the features of its enterprise backup technology, including agentless operation, easy deployment, and intelligent, secure data compression. And, unlike most mass-market backup services, which retain only the last 30 days of data, Storage Guardian offers the ability to retain deleted files in the backup set forever.
“Storage Guardian Mobile Client is ideal for small businesses that need to backup office documents along with files associated with specialized engineering, imaging or graphics applications,” said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “We offer an inexpensive service with the data headroom to include any computer or disk attached to the local network, as well as any laptop that’s connected to the Internet, no matter where it is. And along with this highly robust service, they get our expertise and technical support, whenever they need it.”
With Storage Guardian’s Mobile Client online backup service, numerous devices can be added to one account, making it easy to manage backups and costs. The service is also very cost-effective: protecting one terabyte of compressed data costs as little $50 per month, with additional storage costing 4.9 cents per gigabyte.
Storage Guardian Mobile Client backup service features:
• Fast backup and recovery via intuitive wizards and easy-to-understand options.
• Self-management so that any user can backup and restore his or her data anytime, anywhere.
• Simple and jargon-free design, perfect for novice users.
• Option to ship USB drive containing restore date for recovery of large datasets.
Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft SharePoint, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and follow Storage Guardian on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
You’ve certainly heard about the popular trend that’s seeing data and apps head into the cloud Until now, it’s really only made sense for enterprises and larger businesses to deploy and manage cloud services.
But now, even small businesses can take advantage of the efficiencies and cost savings offered by cloud computing because Storage Guardian has launched a cloud computing service.
Storage Guardian Debuts Metered Computing for Small Businesses
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing enables companies to reduce hardware capital expenses and maintenance. “Pay-as-you-go” model offers complete flexibility with instant savings, and can be coupled with Storage Guardian online backup for a comprehensive cloud continuity solution.
TORONTO, CANADA: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has launched metered computing services that, for the first time, make enterprise-grade cloud computing accessible to a company of any size. Storage Guardian Cloud Computing, which is available exclusively through Storage Guardian’s VAR/MSP partner network, makes it possible for any company to eliminate in-house hardware and move desktop and server software applications from their in-house IT environment to a ‘private cloud,’ where they are accessed, managed and paid for on an as-needed, ‘utility’ basis.
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is an ideal solution for any company that is considering purchasing a new server to run a new application, purchasing additional licenses of a software application, or scaling up internal computing resources to meet the needs of new projects or employees. Cloud computing also makes sense for companies with teams of remote workers that need secure access to enterprise data. Any application that is currently accessed as a shared resource can be migrated to Storage Guardian’s cloud, especially business applications where minimal downtime is essential.
Storage Guardian Cloud Computing enables companies to:
• Eliminate or reduce capital investments associated with information technology
• Reduce the labor burden associated with technology infrastructure management
• Eliminate the real-estate requirements of an in-house datacenter
• Align IT infrastructure costs with fluctuations in business cycles
• Reduce time-to-market for IT infrastructure deployment
Getting started with Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is easy
Adding Storage Guardian Cloud Computing to an existing network is as easy as adding a new server to a corporate LAN. Its physical location is transparent to users, who login and access applications and data just as they did before - except these applications now reside on a secure, private cloud. Network controls and firewall security are built in, along with high redundancy and availability. Storage Guardian Cloud Computing is powered by 6fusion’s patent-pending Workload Allocation Cube model, which tracks CPU, disk and network usage, and bills these computing resources as units of actual consumption.
For more information and to get started with cloud computing, visit www.storageguardian.com.
For years, our high-performance cloud services have successfully delivered exceptionally reliable online backup services to thousands of businesses, so cloud computing represents a logical and complementary service that will save them additional money and further insulate them from business disruption,” said Dave Minns, client services director at Storage Guardian. “We think many companies will find it attractive to pay for their computing needs just the same way as they pay for their electricity and gas: as they actually use them. We’re also recruiting channel partners looking to offer cloud computing to their customer base.”
Storage Guardian cloud-based computing and data backup delivers business continuity
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian has established itself as a leader in small-business cloud continuity services. In addition to its cloud computing service, the company also offers enterprise-grade online data backup services optimized for the needs of small to medium-size companies. Unlike consumer-focused backup alternatives, Storage Guardian online backup is specifically designed for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes. When used in conjunction with Storage Guardian Cloud Computing, a company can maximize the benefits of cloud-based business continuity protection.
Storage Guardian is SAS 70 (Type II)-compliant
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. Storage Guardian’s online backup is based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company also sells it services through a network of authorized VARs and MSPs. For more information, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian.
If you’re using tape backup you really should read this. Maybe you’re sticking with tape because you think online backup is pricey (it isn’t). Maybe you like the idea of having all your data on-premise (you shouldn’t). Or maybe you relish the daily/weekly/monthly juggling of tapes, and rather like the way they can double as coasters for your beverage (send us a photo). Whatever your reason, we’re here to tell you that it’s time to move on.
The reason? Now we’re offering local disk backup that works seamlessly with our WAN online backup. Which means you have the best of both worlds - fast, local restore of critical files AND secure, long-term, offsite archival of less important data.
And, we’ll let you keep the coasters.
Storage Guardian Adds Low-Cost, Local-Only Disk Backup to Online Backup Services
Complementing offsite vaulting with a local backup means small and medium-size businesses can restore critical data at LAN speeds, eliminate tape backup, and benefit from a cost-effective strategy for offsite data migration. Pricing as low as 25 cents per compressed gigabyte, per month.
TORONTO, CANADA—October 7, 2010: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, now offers a local backup to fast, reliable hard disks in addition to its enterprise-grade online data backup strategies. Storage Guardian’s local-only backup service offers all the features of its enterprise backup technology, including agentless operation for easy deployment and intelligent, secure data compression, and adds the additional benefits of reducing WAN bandwidth needs and fast restore of mission-critical data at LAN speeds, whenever needed.
Priced as low as 25 cents per compressed gigabyte, per month, Storage Guardian’s high-availability disk-to-disk backup is designed to replace slow, cumbersome and unreliable tape backup, offering advanced features optimized for Microsoft-based shops and virtualized environments:
• Faster backups and recoveries than traditional tape methods
• Advanced functionality for managing and archiving data long-term
• Compatible with a wide variety of platforms, including Windows Small Business Server 2003 / 2008, SBS, MS SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint and VMWare
• Advanced backup and recovery options for virtualized environments
• Brick-level recovery of Exchange data
• Average 3:1 compression ratio, reducing disk space on the backup appliance
“We make it possible for companies to blend onsite and offsite data backup so they can create appropriate backup strategies for all clients on the network, and for all types of data from ordinary to mission-critical,” said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “Storage Guardian online data backup means no software agent is needed on each client, minimal upfront op-ex licensing costs, and a low per-gigabyte price.”
Local-only disk backup complements online backup strategies
Local-only backup works hand-in-hand with Storage Guardian’s online backup service, providing a number of attractive advantages for companies that need to balance data availability with the cost of security and peace of mind:
• Local-only backup offers a low-cost, agentless replacement for tape-based solutions.
• Reduces WAN bandwidth costs by backing up essential data to a local server, potentially reducing the load on WAN resources.
• Each generation backed up for a Local-Only Backup Set is independently restorable and does not depend on other generations of the same file.
• The data is compressed locally and resides on customer premises for fast and instant restore.
• Local-Only Backup Sets can be easily migrated to offsite backup sets.
• Most importantly, Local-Only Backup aligns the value of data with the cost of protecting it.
Storage Guardian brings several key benefits to smaller companies looking to take advantage of cloud backup and recovery. With Asigra Cloud Backup v10 powering Storage Guardian’s online backup service, customers can improve recovery times, reduce operational costs, and are provided with data protection without limits to meet their dynamic IT requirements.
A no-cost, 30-day trial is available here: http://www.storageguardian.com/free_trial.php.
Storage Guardian’s latest online backup software includes advanced features such as:
• Ability to backup laptops in the field
• Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer premises, and offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
• Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
• Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
• New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Balancing Performance and Cost with Flexible Tiered Recovery Options
Storage Guardian’s online data backup is built on the Asigra’s hybrid cloud deployment model, giving users the freedom to backup to a public cloud for offsite recovery, build a private cloud for onsite recovery or select a hybrid of the two models. With Asigra v10, users can create tiered backup policies that align the value of the data with the cost of protecting it. Establishing policies for local backup sets allows IT to segment the data and choose what gets backed up locally on their private cloud. The local backup sets option enables companies to replace their typical tape-based local backup solution — with all of its pain, cost and complexity – with fast and simple backup to a local disk-based private cloud.
Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian
The data you backup has varying operational value.
So why don’t most backup vendors offer you flexible pricing?
Long ago, before the dawn of time and the internet, we treated all data as equal. On that basis, all data was backed up to one type of storage medium, and there it stayed. Since then, most businesses have been overwhelmed by an explosion of data. And we’re told what data needs to be kept, under what circumstances, with what security protection, and for how long.
But guess what… not all data is created equal. Most companies have some data that’s crucial, but will never change (a contract, for example). On the flip side, there’s database records, current documents, email, contact and calendar information — data that could really impair a company’s ability to operate if it could not be immediately restored after a catastrophe.
This means we must tailor our backup strategies accordingly. And once that data is backed up, we need to implement intelligent data management strategies that maximize efficiency along the conflicting axes of data availability and cost of storage.
We work with our customers to design Data Lifecycle Management (DLM) strategies for them. How do you manage long-term storage of crucial operational data vs. stagnant data? This is part of implementing an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy that defines the date after which a particular category of data is migrated from one (higher cost) storage system to another, less expensive storage system.
We call the less expensive option “Tiered Storage.” We think our customers should be able to formulate and utilize the rules for migrating their data, and in so doing benefit from lower costs. In this simple diagram, $Y & $Z are of course much lower in cost than $X , so we design a blended pricing model that results in a very competitive overall monthly cost.
How does this work, in practice? It all starts with our software, which enables you to develop your own rules. We work with you to first identify operationally critical, “young” data (which requires more frequent backups on higher performance devices )that is needed to get back into business. Less critical, “inactive” backups are relegated to less expensive, lower performance devices. And then older, stagnant versions of backup files are moved to slower devices to further reduce costs. Yet, any backed-up data, on whatever type of device, can be restored whenever needed.
Don’t lock in your backup data costs to one arbitrary high $ value; make sure you have the flexibility to manage it based on its value to your business. Storage Guardian can help you get the most out of your backup investment, and minimize your monthly costs.
We’ve got some good news for all our customers as well as any small-business owner who’s concerned about their online backup plan. Storage Guardian has made the move to Asigra version 10, which gives our customers and channel partners an even more potent online backup solution.
New features include:
• New client software to intelligently backup laptops in the field
• Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer’s premises, offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
• Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
• Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
• New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Support for Asigra Cloud Backup v10 means small and medium-sized companies can benefit from tiered recovery and integrate mobile/laptop and virtual environments into their backup strategy
TORONTO, CANADA—July 15, 2010: Storage Guardian, the company that specializes in online and cloud backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, has upgraded its cloud backup software to Asigra v10, an advanced backup and recovery software platform fully optimized for cloud computing. The latest edition of the industry’s most advanced backup software enables Storage Guardian and its channel partners to extend the reach and performance of its backup technology across the broadest range of computing environments, enabling even small companies to implement enterprise-grade backup, recovery, and protection.
“Our managed service provider and trusted advisor partners are looking to us to keep them abreast of the latest trends, so we’re delighted to be rolling out support for Asigra v10,†said Dave Minns, client services manager at Storage Guardian. “This latest online backup platform provides flexible and affordable service delivery to any size organization—from small businesses to the distributed enterprise—and is aligned with the technology and performance demands of modern IT infrastructures.â€
Gregory Baharoff of MTBW Services in Mount Airy, Maryland, is a long-time reseller of Storage Guardian online backup software. He was initially attracted to the Storage Guardian’s ability to handle both Windows-centric and heterogeneous OS environments, as well as its competitive pricing. In addition to OS flexibility and support for virtual environments, he says his customers appreciate the financial benefits of backup lifecycle management. “What’s nice is that Storage Guardian gives my customers a way to keep backup costs in check without compromising security. They can decide which information gets backed up onsite, and which is stored offline, and the precise rules that determine this balance as time goes by and data ages,†says Baharoff. “In fact, we like it so much, we use it to backup all our own critical data.â€
Advancements in Asigra v10 include comprehensive protection for laptops, desktops, servers, data centers and cloud computing environments, with tiered recovery options that meet the most stringent Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs). All Storage Guardian customers and channel partners are currently being automatically migrated to this new platform.
Storage Guardian brings several key benefits to smaller companies looking to take advantage of cloud backup and recovery. With Asigra Cloud Backup v10 powering Storage Guardian’s online backup service, customers can improve recovery times, reduce operational costs, and are provided with data protection without limits to meet their dynamic IT requirements.
New features offered in Storage Guardian’s latest online backup software include:
— DS-Mobile support to backup laptops in the field
— Tiered recovery (local-only backup to machines on customer’s premises, offsite backup to a service provider or private cloud), allowing users to better align the value of data with the cost of protecting it, while achieving higher Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs)
— Deployment as a virtual appliance within virtual infrastructures for maximum application mobility, scalability and uptime.
— Advanced FIPS 140-2 NIST-certified security and encryption of data, both in-flight and at-rest
— New backup sets for comprehensive protection of enterprise applications, including MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, MS SQL, Windows Server Hyper-V, Oracle SBT, Sybase, and local-only backup.
Balancing Performance and Cost with Flexible Tiered Recovery Options
Storage Guardian’s online data backup is built on the Asigra’s hybrid cloud deployment model, giving users the freedom to backup to a public cloud for offsite recovery, build a private cloud for onsite recovery or select a hybrid of the two models. With Asigra v10, users can create tiered backup policies that align the value of the data with the cost of protecting it. Establishing policies for local backup sets allows IT to segment the data and choose what gets backed up locally on their private cloud. The local backup sets option enables companies to replace their typical tape-based local backup solution — with all of its pain, cost and complexity – with fast and simple backup to a local disk-based private cloud.
Why Storage Guardian is the leader for small-business online backup
With more than ten years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers, Storage Guardian’s remote data backup service has established itself as a dependable provider of enterprise-grade online backup technology for smaller companies. What sets it apart from the many low-cost alternatives in the market are online data backup features optimized for businesses that depend on Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003/2008, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Novell GroupWise, and Lotus Notes.
Storage Guardian and SAS 70 (Type II)
Storage Guardian has completed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 for service providers, receiving a service auditor’s Type II report. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
About Storage Guardian
Storage Guardian delivers business continuity protection and information lifecycle management. Storage Guardian is used by small and midsize businesses, enterprises, and multiple-platform LAN computing environments that want to safeguard their critical business data in a secure, off-site location. Its remote backup service is the culmination of a decade of intense research and software development and represents a superior alternative to tape-based data recovery systems. All Storage Guardian’s solutions are based on televaulting technology from Asigra, a recognized leader in enterprise online backup. The company is also developing a select network of authorized VARs to service the off-site backup and fast data recovery needs of companies located throughout North America. For more, visit www.storageguardian.com and Twitter @storageguardian
We’re very pleased to report that we’ve attained SAS 70 (Type II) compliance. The SAS 70 Type II report is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and affirms that Storage Guardian’s policies and procedures are appropriately designed with the proper controls in place, and functioning as designed.
Why did we do this? Well, we believe this is an important certification since our customers are trusting us to manage critical information for them. Undergoing SAS 70 was no mean feat since subjected our internal systems and infrastructure to a series of rigorous tests - sustained over time.
The SAS 70 Type II audit focused on our datacenter and the hosted service we offer to our customers and resellers. Additionally, the auditors evaluated other aspects of our organization and culture, including our management philosophy, human resources policies, training, and a variety of controls that ensure the company’s overall control environment is consistent with our stated mission of offering “comprehensive and bullet-proof†data protection and recovery services to our clients.
You’ll be happy to know that “All data requested was provided to the auditors in an appropriate format, including employee manuals, security doctrines, training records, past employee records, sample customer contracts, backup records, regular maintenance logs, a tour of the off-site backup facility, and other relevant items that would enable the auditors to form an independent opinion that Storage Guardian met the requirements of the SAS 70 Type II report.â€
If you’re already a Storage Guardian customer or reseller, the SAS 70 certification speaks volumes (no pun intended!) about our commitment to providing you the highest possible level of information integrity. And if you’re considering selecting us as your online backup provider, we hope this will ensure you give us a serious look.
Storage Guardian and ASCII Group invite VARs, MSPs and solutions providers to learn how to create long-term relationships and multi-year annuity revenue streams for their business. Attend this information-rich seminar to learn how to successfully deploy enterprise-grade cloud online backup services to SMBs, and to understand why these services are more appropriate for business customers than consumer-grade backup products.
Aimed at small-business IT managers, and VARs and MSPs who sell into the small and medium-sized business sector, this free webinar will focus on the issue of handling the backup and recovery of valuable email messages.
Remember the fax? Not so long ago, it was considered an essential business communication medium. Nowadays, most important business decisions are conveyed via email. So, what happens if you need to recover that crucial email message that was deleted just a few weeks ago? You’ll need a solution that can find that message without interrupting the current email system. That can be a real challenge.
Storage Guardian’s Dave Minns will show you how to apply the latest Asigra-based televaulting technology to perform highly granular archival of email messages. Storage Guardian’s technology understands the inner workings of email platforms of Exchange, Outlook, GroupWise and Notes, and can backup and restore an individual email, calendar entry or contact to the original owner’s system.
You will learn how you can implement this approach for your clients, and tips on how to implement an effective and affordable email lifecycle management strategy.
Attend this seminar if you’re interested learning how you can offer your clients enterprise-grade online backup services, and understanding why these services are more appropriate for business customers than consumer-grade ‘commodity’ backup services like Mozy and Carbonite.
A little about David Minns
David Minns is a 12-year sales engineering veteran who assists VARs and MSPs with their sales and business services development to small and medium-size businesses. He is an industry evangelist regarding cloud SaaS backup and the annuity revenue opportunities it offers solutions providers.
MSPs and VARs can benefit from Storage Guardian’s enterprise-ready approach:
* A cost-saving tiered-storage approach that includes: a) a local backup of first-generation data; b) a highly available second tier of online backup; c) a third tier of near-line backups of mature data (typically backups that have aged past 90 days).
* Competitive pricing at a rate of $3.00 (50 cents for tiered storage) per compressed GB per month (based on a 3:1 compression ratio).
* Convenience and flexibility are two crucial considerations when a major data restore is needed after a catastrophic server failure. Storage Guardian’s ‘bare metal’ capability can restore data backup up from one server to a completely different server.
* To save time for new customers, the initial backup is performed on a portable drive that is then shipped to Storage Guardian. Similarly, if a major restore of a large amount of data is needed, Storage Guardian can overnight a portable drive containing the data to be restored.
* Storage Guardian’s ultra-secure online backup technology uses AES 256-bit encryption plus hardware authentication. Information to be backed up is de-duplicated (deduped), compressed and encrypted before transmission to Storage Guardian’s SAS-70 compliant datacenter.
